Patricia Routledge

Having been awarded an OBE in 1993, Routledge was given a CBE in 2004. Sylvia Sidney has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to Motion Pictures at 6245 Hollywood Boulevard. Some Harry Potter fans have suggested Routledge for the role of Dolores Umbridge for the movie Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2006 or 2007). She died from throat cancer in New York. In the United States, in addition to her Tony Award-winning role in Darling of the Day, she appeared in a number of short-lived musicals including the legendary 1976 flop, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. She was married three times, including a marriage to acting teacher Luther Adler from 1938 until 1947. Routledge was last seen in the West End in 2004 in The Solid Gold Cadillac. She played the grandmother in the television production of An Early Frost for which she won a Golden Globe Award, as well as roles in Beetlejuice (1988) and Used People.

A recent BBC radio dramatisation of Carole Hayman's "Ladies of Letters" sees Patricia playing pensioner Vera Small in a two-hander with Prunella Scales (as Irene Spencer), a gentle, quintessentially British comedy where the two ladies exchange letters (more recently e-mails) full of acerbic comment and ironic asides. As an elderly woman she continued to play supporting roles, and was identifiable by her husky voice, the result of a lifetime cigarette smoking habit. She has also played several real-life characters on television, including Barbara Pym and Hildegard of Bingen. She received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973). In 1996, she took the lead in another long-running series, this time a drama, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. In 1952 she played the role of Fantine in Les Misérables, and her performance was widely praised and allowed her opportunities to develop as a character actress. It was in 1990 that she first played the comic role of Hyacinth Bucket, an originally working-class woman with social pretensions (for example, she insists on pronouncing her surname "Bouquet"). Her career diminished somewhat during the early 1940s and a comeback later in the decade failed to renew her popularity.

Her numerous television appearances, including roles in Coronation Street and several BBC drama serials, failed to make her a household name until the 1980s, when she appeared, amongst other things, in Victoria Wood's comedy series, and Alan Bennett's Talking Heads series of short plays. Among her films of this period were An American Tragedy and Street Scene (both 1931), Sabotage (1936) and Dead End (1937). Around this time, she also acted alongside Sidney Poitier in the film To Sir, With Love. During the Great Depression Sidney appeared in a string of films, playing either the girlfriend or the sister of a gangster. Her appearance in Darling of the Day won her a Tony Award in 1968 (she shared the honor that year with Leslie Uggams, who also won for Hallelujah, Baby!). In 1927 she was seen by a Hollywood talent scout and made her first film appearance later that year. She appeared in many stage productions, including musicals, and made her Broadway debut in 1966. A student of the Theater Guild's School for Acting, Sidney appeared in several of their productions during the 1920s and earned praise from theater critics.

She was born at Birkenhead in Cheshire, and educated at the University of Liverpool, going on to act at the Liverpool Playhouse. She went on to study at the Bristol Old Vic's theatre school. Born Sophia Kosow in The Bronx, New York, New York, Sidney became an actress at the age of 15 as a way of overcoming shyness. Patricia Routledge (born 17 February 1929) is a popular British actress, best known for television roles such as Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances. Sylvia Sidney (August 8, 1910 - July 1, 1999) was an American actress.